


A Thousand Miles

by AidenFlame



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Angst, Date Rape, Eventual Fluff, Explicit Language, Flashbacks, Good-guy Ray, Heartbreak, Homophobic Language, I just found out about Geoff not wanting Millie to be in fics at all, M/M, Mama Griffon, Mavin, Michael and Geoff are in it, Mistaken Identity, NOT from Michael and Geoff, NSFW, Nightmares, Panic Attacks, Protective Geoff, Protective Ryan, Rape, Rape Aftermath, Rape Recovery, Ryan the bodyguard guy, Self Harm, Sexual Abuse, Sexual Violence, Triggers, and even Im like, eventual mavin, like I created this to be heartbreaking, no Aiden!, obviously, so from now on he has a son called Action instead, so much heartbreak, y u do dis?!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-11
Updated: 2014-06-08
Packaged: 2018-01-11 23:04:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1179009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AidenFlame/pseuds/AidenFlame
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gavin is left, naked, beaten and bloody, on the doorstep of the Rooster Teeth office after being date raped. At first, no one has any idea who the rapist was, but Geoff has sworn revenge on the arsehole who dared touch his pseudo-son. Then some eye witnesses come forward, with statements that shock the employees of Rooster Teeth to the very core.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Raw

**Author's Note:**

> I...I don't know where this came from... Sorry Gavin! D:  
> Also, for the purpose of this fic, Lindsay and Michael are just super special BFFs. There will be NO Lindsay hate here, she is too fucking awesome for that bullshit!

“HOLY SHIT, GAVIN!”  
“What the FUCK has happened? Joel call a fucking ambulance!”  
“On it!”

Gavin could hear the words, and registered that they were coming from three of his colleagues. He wondered what they sounded so upset about. He shivered, realising he was cold- why was he cold? Wasn’t he in bed? Actually, what the bloody hell were Geoff, Gus and Joel doing in his bedroom? He tried to ask them, but found the words unable to leave his mouth. Jesus, how much had he had to DRINK last night!? Groggily, he opened his eyes, but instantly had to close them again. Why was it so bright in his room; did he not close the curtains last night? Just as he realised he was still shivering, he felt the weight of what felt like a coat cover his body, and hands tucking it around him. Groaning, he slowly attempted to open his eyes again, finding the light more manageable this time. He could see two pairs of feet standing on concrete in front of his face. Before he even began to question why he was laying on concrete, and not in his bed as he had assumed, a panic stricken face appeared in front of him.  
“HIS EYES ARE OPEN! Gav? Gav can you hear me?”  
He tried to put all the questions he had into words, but all that came out was a small and croaky “Geoff?”  
“Oh thank Christ! Thank fucking Christ! What happened to you, who did this?”  
Gavin was confused. What was Geoff looking so worried about? He dimly recalled Gus asking Joel to call 911. _What the hell is happening here?_ He tried to ask, but again all that came out was an even more pathetic sounding “Geoff?”  
“I’m here- I’m right here buddy, don’t worry, were gonna get you help; just stay with me ok?”  
“Geoff...look at these bruises... “ Gus’s voice came from somewhere out of his field of vision, but Gav could hear the severity in his tone.  
It wasn’t until he heard a sharp intake of breath and a snarl of “MotherFUCKER” from the same direction as Gus’s voice, that Gavin realised that Geoff’s face had disappeared from in front of him. He tried again to ask what had happened to him, why he couldn’t move, but once more all that escaped his lips was a panicked wail of “Geoff!”  
His pseudo-father was back almost instantly, and this time Gavin noticed that his eyes were glazed with angry tears, and weakly managed to reach a hand out towards him. Geoff grasped it and held it, whispering soothingly. Gavin found himself drifting back into unconsciousness. The last thing he heard before he blacked out again was Joel on the phone again.  
“Hello, Police? Yes I’d like to report a sexual assault.”

 

****

 

When Gavin came round again, first thing he noticed was that he was in a hospital bed. Second thing he noticed, was that Geoff’s hand was still around his own. He turned his head lazily, still a little groggy, and saw the older man sitting in a chair beside his bed. Apparently, Geoff either didn’t agree with Gavin’s opinion that all hospital chairs were uncomfortable by nature, or just didn’t give a fuck, as he appeared to be deeply asleep.  
As his mind and vision gradually became less foggy, Gavin realised he was attached to a drip. Urrgh, he grimaced. He HATED needles! He briefly considered ripping it out; like they always do in films, when instead Geoff- who had apparently NOT been as sound asleep as Gavin had presumed- suddenly had his arms around him, and was, Gavin could only assume, attempting to squeeze every last bit of air out of the lad! He was only released when he started coughing, which then somehow set off his hair-trigger gag reflex, causing him to cough even more violently and flail wildly until Geoff let him go.  
Still gasping, and slightly purple in the face, he looked up at Geoff, grinning in spite of his lack of oxygen.  
“Alright Geoffers! What’s going on?”  
He noticed how tired Geoff looked, and the tell-tale red rings around his eyes, but something told him to ignore it, so he pushed it to the back of his mind, and instead sat up, still grinning at his friend.  
Geoff looked worriedly at Gavin, confusion crossing his features.  
“Gav...do you know why you’re here, in hospital?”  
“Nope!’ replied the lad, a touch too cheerfully, “I imagine it was my fault though- did I ‘Gav up’ a bet or something?” Gavin was still smiling.  
A smile that Geoff suddenly realised, did _not_  reach his eyes.  
“Gav...” Geoff hesitated, not sure how much to tell the boy about what the Doctors had told him about what happened, or even how much Gavin himself actually remembered already.  
“Gavin” He tried again “We...Joel, Gus and I, came in early to plan a new short, and we...found you. Outside, on the door step of the main office. You were...well shit dude, you were messed up! You were covered in bruises and blood; someone had...left you there.” He hesitated again, noticing Gavin’s smile was still fixed to his face. Fuck, would he give anything to not be the one who had to tell him. He had been terrified when he had gone into work this morning to find the lad, who might as well be his dumb-ass British son, lying there, completely out of it, covered in his own blood. He had insisted on going with him in the ambulance, leaving Gus and Joel to talk to the Police and call everyone important to Gavin to tell them what had happened.  
 “Dude” Geoff continued “you were...you were drifting in and out of consciousness. We were scared you wouldn’t wake up! Gus and I tried to keep you awake and keep you warm, whilst Joel called an ambulance...and the Police.” Geoff swallowed, eyes never leaving Gavin’s face. The boy was still sitting there, just staring back at Geoff, that lightless grin still plastered on his face. “You were... naked. The Doctors found some kind of drug in your system when they ran some tests... Some guy... last night, some fucking arsehole at the bar must have slipped something into your drink without anyone noticing. He beat you up...strangled you; you have bruises round your neck. Gavin. Buddy.” Geoff swallowed again, seeing the grin waver, and slowly fade “you were....He raped you, Gavin, I am so, so sorry.”  
  
The room was silent. Geoff looked at Gavin worriedly, but the boy didn’t say a word; just sat there in the bed, still smiling slightly, staring back at Geoff.  
Then suddenly he was gagging; hazy memories hurling themselves forward from the back of his mind where he had pushed them, hitting him like a freight train. He lent over the side of his bed, and vomited violently. Geoff rushed forwards to help, but no sooner had he grabbed the Brits hand, Gavin wrenched it away, glaring at the older man.  
“GET THE FUCK OFF ME, GET AWAY!” Gavin screeched, still coughing slightly.  
“I’m sorry, shit man I’m sorry, look see, no touching!” Geoff quickly backed away from his friend, cursing himself for being so stupid; hands raised so Gavin could see them.  
“I...I’m sorry Geoff, I can’t...I just...Leave. Please, please just go.” Gavin begged, his eyes filled with tears.  
Geoff nodded, backing towards the door. “I’m sorry dude, I’ll give you time. I’ll go get a nurse or something, let them know you’re awake.” He could see Gavin was desperately trying not to cry in front of him, as he hurried out of the door. “I’ll be right outside if you need me, okay buddy? You don’t have to be alone.” He saw Gavin nod, but doubted the broken looking boy was really hearing him anymore.  
He closed the door behind him, and stood in the corridor; frozen in fury. How could someone DO this to Gavin? The guy could be annoying as fuck at times, but who the fuck would ever want to hurt him, especially like this?  
Geoff stormed down the hall to the reception, where his wife, son, Michael and Ray were anxiously waiting for any news on Gavin.  
Geoff swore to any Gods who were listening that he would find the fucker who did this, and rip his fucking dick off through his mouth. No one could just beat the shit out of Gavin and leave him broken and bloody on his work doorstop, and expect to fucking survive. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter will be called; 'Run, Little Creeper Boy'


	2. Run, Little Creeper Boy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin insists on coming home ASAP.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for any glaring errors, but its just gone 4am, and I just couldnt sleep until this was finished and uploaded.

It was still pitch black when Geoff jerked awake. For a moment he just lay there, listening to the slow breathing of his wife -who was still asleep beside him- unsure of what had roused him. Although, this in itself wasn’t exactly new to Geoff- his years serving in the military, combined with his natural keen hearing and being a parent, had turned him into a very light sleeper. It was not unheard of for him to be awoken by the sound of his son, Action, turning over in his sleep in the room next door.  
The reason behind tonight’s disturbance quickly became apparent, however, when the phone rang down the hall, deafening to his sensitive ears, in the otherwise silent house.   
Groaning, Geoff forced himself to roll out of bed and checked the time. Who the FUCK was calling at half two in the fucking morning!? Grumbling to himself, he trudged to the phone, kneading the heels of his palms into his heavy lidded eyes sleepily. Picking up the receiver, he mumbled an unintelligible greeting into the phone, trying and failing to muster up the energy to sound as pissed off as he felt.  
‘Hi, am I speaking to a Mr Geoffrey...Laser...Ramsay?’  
Geoff grunted non-committaly in response. It was WAY to fucking early to deal with this crap!  
‘Mr Ramsay, I’m sorry to call you so late, but I’m Nurse Hemley from Victory Medical Center, Austin-’  
Geoff blinked, instantly more awake now.  
‘-we have a Mr Gavin David Free here, who is _insisting_ on leaving out care- against recommendation I might add- right away, and you are listed as his contact in this situation. Would you-‘  
‘I’ll come get him right away!’ Geoff cut her off  
‘Great, how soon should Mr Free expect you?’  
‘I’ll be there in 15 minutes.’  
‘Excellent, I’ll let him know. Sorry again for calling so late, but Mr Free was insistent.’  
‘No, don’t worry about it. I’ll leave right away. Goodbye.’ Geoff ended the conversation hurriedly and hung up.  
He ran to the bathroom, stumbling a little in his haste. Filling up the sink, he grabbed a near-by flannel, and dunked it in the cold water, and proceeded to vigorously rub his face with it, hoping the coldness of the water combined with the roughness of the flannel would be enough to keep him alery enough to drive. When he felt more with-it, he rushed back into the bedroom, somehow managing to keep his speed, and yet still be careful and quiet, so as not to wake his wife. He put on jeans over his pyjama pants, and pulled on the first shirt he grabbed, whilst throwning a hastily scribbled note -pickin gav up frm hosp, back soon, luv u xx- onto his pillow, on the off-chance Griffon wakes up before he got back.  
He only just remembered to stuff his feet into shoes, before heading out of the house and starting up the car. He glanced at his watch, and was only minorly surprised to see that he had only hung up the phone three minutes ago.

He arrived at the hospital in record time, and was forced to stand impatiently in the reception to wait for Gavin. Soon enough, the doors opened to reveal Gavin, scowling up at the nurse who was pushing the wheelchair he was in. Geoff was about to panic and ask why Gav needed a chair, when he noticed the vice-like grip the nurse currently had on his shoulder, and guessed that his legs where in fact, perfectly functional, and he was simply being forced to leave in a wheelchair due to hospital policy.  
This assumption proved to be correct as Gav and the nurse approached him.  
‘I can walk perfectly fine! Geoff, tell her I can bloody well leave on my own two legs!’  
Geoff couldn’t help but let out a bark of laughter as the Brit stared up at him imploringly, eyes wide. He nodded to the nurse, who smiled at him gratefully before scurrying off back to her duties.  
Before Gav could do more than let out an indignant ‘HEY!’ of protest, Geoff had gently but firmly pushed him back down into the chair he had be just about to get up from, seized the handles, and wheeled the protesting man out of the hospital.

 

Geoff parked the car haphazardly, too tired to care that it was actually more covering the lawn rather than the gravel of the driveway (he would almost certainly pay for that in the morning when Griffon noticed, but right now he couldn’t find the energy to give a fuck) and unlocked the front door. Gavin pretty much launched himself into the house as soon as the door was opened, and had already dumping his jacket unceremoniously on the floor in front of the coat hook and made his way into the living room, before Geoff had even fully shut the door behind him. He trudged after him, shrugging of his own coat and depositing it on top of Gavs (another thing to care about later) and joined the Brit on the sofa.  
Geoff desperately wanted to ask if Gavin was ok- if he remembered anything from his ordeal that would help him track down the arsehole that hurt him, but instead only stared at the floor awkwardly, not wanting to trigger another panic attack in the man.  
The silence stretched on until Geoff could stand it no more, and looked up at Gavin, intending to ask him if he wanted a drink, or a meal, or anything to break the silence, but he found the young man already staring at him with a confused look on his face.    
‘Um...Geoff?’ Gavin spoke before Geoff could ask ‘not that I’m judging you or anything... but did you really think picking me up from the hospital was the ideal time and place for such a plunging neckline?’  
Geoff furrowed his brow in confusion, and looked down at himself to find that he was in fact wearing his wifes favourite royal blue v-neck tank top. ‘God fucking damn it. Griffon is gonna be PISSED when she wakes up!’  
Giggling softly, Gavin repositioned himself so he was lying across the sofa with his head on Geoffs lap. His giggles turned to gentle hums and sighs of contentment as Geoff softly ran his fingers through the Brits wild mane of hair, whispering reassuringly.  
Gav found himself dozing, not really listening to the words the older man was saying, just recognising the tone as safe and comforting. Just as he was about to nod off, two of the words Geoff had been murmuring, suddenly broke through the drowsy haze, and pierced his protective bubble.  
Yelping and flailing wildly, he wrenched away from the other man, launching himself off of the sofa and into the corner of the room. Geoff had been half asleep himself, and could only blink, mouth partially open in shock as Gavin curled himself into a ball, and rocked backwards and forwards, sobbing as though he would never stop. The boys hands were clamped over his ears, eyes squeezed tightly shut.  
It was only when he heard Griffon running down the stairs, that Geoff shook himself out of his own panic enough to hear the words that Gavin was shouting through his sobs.

_‘I’m NOT your Creeper Boy! I’m NOT, I’m NOT!’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry to say that things arent gonna get much better for Gavvy for a good while yet! (I have no idea why I'm doing this to him :c )  
> Chapter 3 is gonna be called 'My Boi!'


	3. My Boi!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin goes back to work. Geoff is unimpressed. Ryan is a life saver.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, sorry if there are any fuck ups here, its now 5.16am and I JUST finished this chapter, and want to get it posted :P

Gavin awoke in the morning, only momentarily surprised to discover he was in his own bed.  
It had taken a good forty-five minutes (and a helpful slap round the face from Griffon) for the Ramseys to pull him out of his panic attack the previous night. He distinctly remembered wrapping himself around Griffon -after her slap had yanked him out of his bad mind place and back to reality- and refusing to let go until he eventually fell asleep with both Ramseys hugging him, as they all curled up together in a silent ball on the sofa. He figured that Geoff must have carried him out to his little hut in the garden after he fell asleep.

He glanced at his alarm clock on his night stand, and sighed when he saw that it was time to get up for work.  
Stretching and groaning, he sat up and flung his legs out of bed, only to recoil them with a yelp as his feet collided with something soft that yelled ‘FUCK!’  
Geoff sat up and glared at Gavin from the floor, where he had apparently decided to spend the night.  
‘What the...Geoff, what the bloody hell are you doing down there you mong!?’    
Geoff groaned, rubbing his forehead where Gavin’s foot had stuck him. ‘YOU asked me to stay with you, jackass! I put you in bed, and was about to leave, when you woke up and literally begged me not to leave you on your own, so being the fucking tippy top boss that I am, I fucking slept on your hard as dicks floor so you would go back to fucking sleep.’  
Gavin blushed furiously as the entirety of last night’s events flooded back to him. He looked down at his bed sheet, picking at it so as to not make eye contact with Geoff. Several minutes of awkward silence passed, until Geoff broke it with a grunt.  
‘Well, I gotta get to fucking work. Go back to sleep, take the day off. I’ll be back for lunch, so I’ll see you then, asshole.’  
He made a move to leave the room, but Gavin lunged forward, grabbing his arm and pulling him back. He turned around to see Gavin looking up at him from the bed, eyes slightly misty with tears he was desperately trying to hold back.  
‘Geoff, I wanna go to work. Please let me go to work.’  
Geoff sighed again, running his hands through his hair. ‘Gavin...’ he said gently ‘you need some time to like...heal ‘n shit. Get some rest, recuperate or something. That nurse gave you the number of a therapist to talk to about what happened. The guys will all understand why you don’t come in. Please just take a few weeks off or something.’  
‘Geoff I’m FINE. I don’t need a bloody therapist to diagnose me with shit and waste my time and money. I wanna go to work, see my friends, edit some bloody videos, mong about in Minecraft and just get on with my smegging life!’  
 Geoff looked away, allowing Gavin to furiously wipe away the angry tears that he hadn’t been able to keep from falling. He sighed again, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.  
He looked back up, internally cursing when he saw that Gavin was using fucking puppy dog eyes that the Brit just _knew_ he could never resist.  
‘Get dressed, asshole, I’m leaving in 20 minutes- with or without you.’ Geoff conceded reluctantly.

 

Gavin was ready within 5 minutes, and had bugged Geoff so much that they ended up being the first people to arrive at the office.  
Once he was sure Gavin was fine with being alone, Geoff headed to the kitchen to grab the cup of coffee he had been denied before leaving the house, because a certain someone had been in too much of a fucking hurry to get to the office.  
Although Geoff was acting like his usual asshole self around Gavin, he was actually extremely worried about the kid. He loved Gavin like a son, and he knew him well enough to be able to see when he was actually hurting, and just trying to maintain the British ‘stiff-upper-lip’ attitude.  
When he got back to the office, Ray had arrived, and was talking animatedly with Gavin. Geoff was happy to see a genuine smile on Gavin’s face, and flashed a grin and a thumbs up behind Gavin’s back at Ray, receiving a small nod and a smile in return.  

The morning ran pretty much as normal- although the guys were all very much less grabby with him than they usually were, which he was secretly extremely grateful for.  It eventually dawned on him that Geoff must have told them all exactly what had happened, and not to bring it up, as not a single person mentioned his bruises or his stay in the hospital at all. Plus Jack had been shooting him sympathetic glances whenever he thought Gavin wasn’t looking, and he noticed Ryan and Michael being more lenient and slower to call him out on fuck ups in the lets plays they filmed. He briefly wondered if he should be annoyed that his boss had broken confidence and informed all of his co-workers that he had been drugged and raped, but honestly?  He was just immensely relieved that he didn’t have to answer any uncomfortable or possibly panic triggering questions.  
By the time lunch rolled around, Geoff clearly thought he was capable of being left alone for extended periods of time, as he had decided to go out home for lunch, and didn’t bat an eyelid when Gavin politely declined his offer of joining him. Jack had a lunch date with Caiti, so he too exited the office without insisting Gavin come with him. Michael and Ray however had been less comfortable with leaving him behind when they went to Taco Bell -not quite buying his excuse of having editing to do- but they too eventually shrugged and left him to it. Eventually, it was just him and Ryan left in the office, sitting in a comfortable silence. Ryan had elected to bring a packed lunch with him, and was sitting on his sofa, taking occasional bites of a sandwich whilst editing the latest GTA V lets play, brows furrowed slightly in concentration.  
  
Gavin lent back on his chair, stretching in feline-esque fashion, before turning back to his monitor. Well, while he is here, he might as well actually _do_ the editing he had fobbed Michael and Ray off with. He grinned smugly when he opened the file to discover that all he had to do was combine the game footage, with the camera footage that Lindsay filmed of the passing of the Tower of Pimps from Geoff’s desk to Michaels. He sat back again, sniggering as he watched the familiar antics of the Achievement Hunters. Michael was doing a victory dance with Gavin, who was whooping and cheering ‘TEAM NICE DINAMITE MI-COOL!’ as Ryan just sat shaking his head at the camera, arms crossed in disappointment, but unable to prevent an amused smirk spreading across his face.  
Michael grabbed the tower from Geoff’s desk, and ceremoniously placed it on his own obsidian block, as Gav continued to bounce around the office, tripping over chairs and stepping on everyone. ‘You motherfucker! You didn’t even win, you mincey little prick!’ Geoff pounced on Gavin, causing the younger man to let out a squawk of laughter, as his boss proceeded to hold him in a headlock and scruff his head, grinning like Cheshire cat.  
‘Yeah, you like that you little bitch! That’s what you get for losing me the fucking tower, jackass!’

Gavin’s felt his chest tighten, as if an invisible boa constrictor had wrapped around him, as on screen Gavin doubled up laughing and flail around as Geoff grabbed at him. His eyes were glued to the monitor, unable to look away as he watched the two of them rassle on the office floor, cheered on by their co-workers. His gaze was drawn to Geoff’s arms as they pinned him to the floor, his tattoos blurring into a mass of colour, as Gavin’s vision began to blur, and he realised that he wasn’t breathing. He let out a strangled wail as he attempted to take in as much oxygen as possible, but his breaths were too sharp and shallow to be effective. He felt himself slip from his chair, and his arms shoot out on their own accord to attempt to grab the edge of his desk.  
  
Ryan reached Gavin just after he hit the floor, his laptop and lunch abandoned, headphone yanked off of his head and thrown haphazardly behind him. He picked the boy off of the floor, and sat him up on the sofa, crouching in front of him, forcing him to make eye contact as he talked; trying to get him to slow his breathing to control the hyperventilating.  
Slowly Gavin’s vision began to clear, and Ryan’s face came into focus in front of him. With tears pouring down his cheeks, he reached desperately, searching for purchase on the older man’s hand. Ryan obliged, rubbing small circles on the back of Gavin’s hand with his thumb comfortingly.  They sat there for a while –Ryan never leaving Gavin’s direct line of vision- until Gavin’s breathing gradually slowed to a normal pace.  
‘How...how did you react so fast?’ Gavin croaked, half heartedly wiping away the tears that were still rolling down his face.  
Ryan shifted, slightly uncomfortably, blushing a little.  
‘I...err...I was keeping an eye out for it. I had a friend at college who went through something similar, and she had panic attacks a lot afterwards. I learned how to help her deal with them.’  
‘Oh.’  
They sat in awkward silence for a few minutes, Ryan’s eyes still never leaving Gavin’s face, despite Gavin himself pointedly looking away, too embarrassed to make eye-contact.  
Eventually Ryan moved to gather his forgotten stuff, grimacing as he spotted that the remainder of his sandwich had landed on the floor.  
‘Thanks.’ Gavin blurted out, looking back at Ryan smiling gratefully.  
Ryan grinned back at him, resting a hand momentarily on his shoulder.  
  
‘MINECRAFT TIME MOTHERFUCKERS, EVERYBODY GET YOUR ASSES BACK IN HERE.’  
Geoff strode back into the office, his smirk slipping as he saw Gavin shrink back into Ryan’s sofa, tears still staining his face.  
Concern flooded his face as he moved towards the lad, reaching an arm out towards him. His worry quickly turned to alarm, however, as the boy leaped up and scurried across the room to hide under Ray’s desk, whimpering slightly, arms covering his head defensively.  
Geoff turned to Ryan, his expression perplexed and slightly scared. Ryan narrowed his eyes briefly in return, and moved to join Gavin on the floor, pulling the sobbing boy into his arms, holding him securely.  
‘I don’t know what it is exactly Geoff, but something about you is obviously bothering him. I think you should go for a while.’ Ryan stated kindly but firmly.  
Geoff was about to argue, as he was deeply concerned at Gavin’s behaviour, but a glare from Ryan made it clear that the matter was not up for negotiation. Nodding at Ryan, and shooting one last anxious look at his pseudo-son crumpled in Ryan’s arms, he backed out of the office.

Once he was sure Geoff was gone, Gavin looked up at Ryan, clinging to the older man’s chest. He knew he should feel weird about sitting pretty much in his friends lap, having just completely freaked out and hidden like a baby rabbit, but he felt so safe in his arms, that it didn’t concern him at all.  
‘Hey there. You ok now?’ Ryan murmured gently, not wanting to spook the boy again.  
Gavin nodded, wiping his face on his sleeve.  
‘Wanna talk about it?’  
Gavin shrugged, attempting to be nonchalant, but Ryan felt him tense up slightly against his chest.  
He expected them to lapse into silence again, so he was surprised when Gavin shifted slightly in his arms, and began to talk.  
‘Geoff...his hair, and beard...he looks like _him._ Even his tattoos...’ Gavin shivered ‘I can’t remember much, but watching that video of Geoff...it jogged some memories. I just...’ Gavin gulped and buried his face in his hands, causing Ryan to pull him closer.  
‘Do you wanna go home with someone else tonight? I’d offer, but my kids would keep you awake all night... might not be ideal.’  
Gav nodded. ‘I’ll ask Michael.’ He said, pulling out his phone and firing off a quick text.  
He gave Ryan one last hug, and pulled himself away to sit back at his desk. Ryan stood up, dusted off his jeans and also strode back over to continue his editing, ruffling Gav's hair fondly as he passed.    
Gavin smiled, feeling a huge rush of affection towards Ryan. They had never really spent much time together, even within the office, but the older man had not only rushed to his aide without a moment’s thought, but had actually been looking out for him just in case he needed help.  
He felt a buzz from his pocket, and pulled his phone out again, guessing that it was Michael replying to his request to stay with him for a while.  
He expected a torrent of questions from the quick tempered Jersey Boy, but saw only one line in reply.

_‘Course ya can gavvers. Ur my boi! <3’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter; Weekend at Mikeys.


	4. Weekend at Mikeys (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael just wants his boi to be happy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Brief homophobic language in this chapter, aimed at our little Gavvy. (I swear things DO get better for him, just....not for a while....)

Gavin sat awkwardly in Michael’s car, nervously shifting in his seat, looking down at his converse.  
He wanted to make conversation, never having been one to be comfortable with silence, but for the life of him he could not think of a topic to bring up.  
Michael glanced over at the lad as they paused at a red light, noticing the restless twitch in his friend’s leg, and the way he was rapidly drumming his fingers nervously against the passenger door.  
He did not know what exactly had occurred during lunch that caused him to want to stay with Michael rather than go home with Geoff, but when Michael had returned to the office, Gavin was curled up on Ryan’s sofa, practically snuggled up into his armpit, with the older man’s arm slung loosely and protectively over his shoulder. Michael had shot a questioning look at Ryan upon seeing this, but had only received a small glare and a shake of the head that clearly told him not to ask about or draw attention to Gavin’s behaviour. Michael had nodded to confirm he had understood, and nipped back outside the room to warn the others not to mention anything when they entered the office. He didn’t think they would be douchebags about it, but he didn’t want to take the risk and have anyone upset his boy.  
Eventually it became clear that Geoff was not coming back to the office. Ray had run into Joel on his way back from the bathroom, and had been informed that their boss had taken up temporary residence in Burnie’s office, and apparently not spoken to anyone since lunch. Gavin had fallen asleep with his head on Ryan’s lap, so the others decided not to tell him how badly Geoff was taking the situation. Ryan hadn’t divulged any of what happened, but had indicated that Gavin’s current mood and Geoff’s disappearance were indeed linked

After about fifteen minutes of driving in awkward silence, Michael couldn’t stand it anymore.  
‘What you wanna do Gavvers? It’s Friday, so we can spend all weekend playing teh viddiya gamz!’ Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Gavin jump slightly, having not expected Michael to suddenly begin talking. He looked towards Michael, chewing his lip worriedly, considering how to answer. Eventually he just shrugged.  
‘Whatever you want to do Michael.  I don’t wanna be a bother, I just...couldn’t...with Geoff.’ He whispered, shuddering as he tried to get rid of the images his brain was supplying of Geoff and his roughhousing taking on more sinister tones.    
 ‘C’mon Gavin, it’ll be fun! We can take down some bustas on Halo, order some pizza, stay up late, braid each other’s hair, paint our nails and talk about cute boys!’  Michael turned to grin at Gavin, and his heart jumped a little as their eyes met and a small, shy smile spread across the lads face. Michael vowed right then and there, to whatever god, goddess or higher being that was listening, that he would do anything in his power to help Gavin return to his usual carefree, laughing, smiling self.  
The rest of the ride home was filled with Michael chattering, telling Gavin amusing stories and anecdotes from his jobs before Rooster Teeth, with Gavin giggling in all the right places and even chiming in with his own comments once or twice. Michael thought his smile was going to split his face in half when Gavin doubled over in his seat, laughing uncontrollably as Michael described his method of clearing a client’s blocked toilet. All in all the last leg of the journey was far more comfortable and pleasant than the first half.   

 Although Gavin had stayed over at Michaels many times before, he stood by the door after being ushered inside; awkwardly shifting from foot to foot, waiting for Michael’s permission to fully enter the apartment. Michael rolled his eyes at him whilst firing up his xbox.  
‘You can come in ya know Gav, I’m not gonna bite yo-shit!’ Michael cut himself up, and froze; eyes wide and locked on Gavin. He had forgotten that Geoff had mentioned that there were bite marks on Gavin’s stomach and legs.  
Gavin winced slightly, but stepped boldly towards Michael, snatching up the player two controller before plonking himself down in the sofa. The way he looked up at Michael was almost daring the red-head to call him out on his attitude, but internally Michael was over the moon at his boi’s reaction. Externally though, he just shot a smile at him, and sat down carefully next to Gavin, making sure not to touch him- Ryan had made sure that everyone was fully aware not to touch, or attempt to touch, the Brit unless he gives his consent. So far, Ryan himself had been the only one Gavin felt comfortable enough with to let him make the first move to make physical contact with him, as Ryan had absentmindedly brushed the lad’s hair out of his eyes when he eventually woke up, and had pulled the boy into a secure hug before allowing him to leave with Michael.  
They grinned at each other for a few seconds, Michael feeling a rush of warmth run through him at seeing the genuine smile on Gavin’s face. He had a sudden urge to reach out and take the other man’s hand in his own, but suppressed it. Nothing was worth triggering a panic attack in his best friend. Also, as scrappy as he was, he did _not_ fancy his chances against Ryan if the much taller man found out he had dismissed his warning. Instead, Michael blushed and looked away, launching them into an online Halo match. It was just the two of them and a bunch of randomers in a team death-match. Michael soon got lost in the heat of the game, yelling into his headset, cussing out anyone who dared shoot at his character, or barking expletives at members of his own team who he felt weren’t pulling their weight. He didn’t actually care about the outcome of the game as much as he was making out, but he could hear Gavin cracking up with laughter next to him every time he yelled out a jumbled insult. He would yell ‘fuck nugget’ and ‘shit weasel’ til his voice was horse and his face was blue, if it meant that Gavin would keep laughing.  
The match ended with their team victorious. Gavin hadn’t contributed to the win much, but he was having fun and to Michael; that was all that mattered. He got up, chucking his controller down onto the sofa, and stretching.  
‘Ima get a beer- you want in?’  
Gavin let out a squeaky moan that Michal took to mean ‘yes please’ so stumbled out of the living room to the kitchen.  
He yanked open the fridge, and tutted at the lack of options. He really needed to stock up on bevs at some point. Maybe he can convince Gavin to come shopping with him tomorrow.  
Grabbing two bottles of _Stella_ and a bottle opener from the cabinet, he returned to the living room. Gavin had started a new round, and was talking to the other players over Michael’s second headset. Michael stood behind the sofa, intending to walk round and deposit the unopened beer in Gavin’s lap, but he paused, noticing how Gavin’s hands were shaking holding the controller.  
‘I...I’m sorry....I’ll be...be better’ Gavin was whispering.  
Michael frowned, and instead dropped into his seat and pulled his own headset on to try and catch what was being said.  
‘ _-ttle faggot, youre fucking useless Gavinofree! Where’d your buddy go? He was a fucking nut job, but at least he helped us win the round, not like you, you useless fucking cunt! Are you even trying, or just sitting around waiting to get your ass raped? Worthless fucking fag-‘_  
Michael ripped the headsets off of both his and Gavin’s heads, furious. He launched them across the room; not caring in the slightest when one hit the wall and cracked.  
‘FUCKING ASSHOLE JERK-OFF! WHO THE FUCK DOES HE THINK HE IS? WHERE DOES HE FUCKING GET OFF BEING SUCH A FUCKING FUCKER, HUH!? ASSHOLES PROBABLY A FUCKING 28 YEAR OLD VIRGIN LIVING IN HIS MOMMAS BASEMENT, JERKING OFF TO PORN EVERY NIGHT CUZ HE CANT GET A REAL LIFE PERSON TO TOUCH HIS FUCK UGLY, TINY ASS MICRO DICK!’ Michael raged, storming around the room, slamming both controllers aggressively in their places on his entertainment system and yanking the cables out of his Xbox, not giving a fuck if it damaged the console or not.  
‘I...I’m sorry...Michael.’ Gavin whimpered, curling into a ball on the couch, close to tears.  
Michael whipped round  
‘SORRY? What the FUCK have YOU got to be sorry about?’ He lent down, grabbing Gavin roughly by the shoulders and shaking him slightly, desperate to get him to understand.  
‘It is NOT your fault Gavin. NONE of this is your fault! There are just some fucking disgusting, sick people in the world who get off on causing pain to others. Some people just need to be fucking shot in the head. I swear to fucking GOD, if I ever get my hands on the fucker, he will wish his mother never gave birth to him!’  
They looked at each other, both aware that Michael was no longer talking about the Halo guy.  
Michael was shaking with the effort of trying to suppress his rage, as he could now see that his outburst had terrified the other lad, and that Gavin was also trembling under his fingers. He relaxed his grip and stood up to sit back on the sofa, ashamed of his lack of control.  
‘I’m sorry Gav...I just...yeah’ He rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably.  
Gavin nodded, looking intently at the carpet.  
Both lads sat without talking. The silence in the room was only broken by Gavin sniffing, desperately trying to stop the tears that still threatened to fall.  
Again, it was Michael who couldn’t take the tension.  
‘Do you wanna order a pizza?’  
Gavin looked up confused, and the two made eye contact. Michael couldn’t help put let out a soft chuckle at the absurdity of the situation. Gavin cracked a wonky smile, and suddenly the two were doubled over, barks and shrieks of laughter erasing the negative atmosphere completely. When they regained their composure, Gavin wiping his eyes as tears of mirth rolled down his face, Michael grabbed the pizza menu, and ordered their usual meat feasts.  
  
When their pizzas arrived (‘My treat for being such a mong earlier, Gavvers!’) they put on some crappy Netflix animated family film, both of them taking the piss out of the voice acting and twee characters, neither really paying attention to the plot, just soaking in the comfortable warmth of each other’s company.  
When Gavin started to yawn, Michael found him an over-sized T-shirt to sleep in, and insisted that he take the double bed, and he-Michael- would take the camp bed and set it up in the living room.  
After an exchange of ‘goodnight’ and ‘sweet dreams’ and ‘seriously get the fuck to bed before I change my mind and make YOU crash on the sofa’, the men snuggled down under their respective bed covers. Michael quietly listened, straining his ears, until Gavin stopped turning and shifting in his bed, and his breathing evened out as he drifted into sleep. Only when he was sure that his boi was safely asleep, did Michael allow himself to be lulled into unconsciousness.       


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was going to be one long thing, but I already went almost double my usual word count, and the next bit is even longer, so I decided it would be best split into two parts :)  
> Next part will be up when I finish fine tuning it :) xx  
> (Also Protective!Ryan is the best ammirite?!)


	5. Weekend at Mikeys (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin self harms. Michael doesnt know. Griffon pays a visit.

_Gavin awoke, and groaned when his brain started to pound out a painful beat inside his skull. Groggily, he tried to rub his (not yet open) eyes, grunting in confusion when a sharp tugging pain hit his wrists every time attempted to bring a hand up to his face. Forcing his eyes open, he found that he wasn’t in Michael’s bedroom anymore at all. Actually, now he thought about it, he wasn’t even lying down in a bed anymore, and was in fact sat on a bare- and extremely cold- concrete floor, and the pain in his wrists was being caused by the rope that was currently tied around them, and to the pipe he was sat against, forcing them to remain behind his back. That explained why he couldn’t rub his face, at least._   
_Glancing around him, he saw that he was in a dimly lit utility room. There was a washing machine in front of him, next to what seemed to be the only door in or out of the room. He was tied to the water pipe at the very back of the room, able to see the entirety of the space, so he was pretty confident in that assessment. He only briefly wondered what he was doing here, surrounded by washing powder and mops, and why this room seemed familiar to him, but at the same time like he had never set foot in it in his life, when the door opened._   
_He couldn’t see the face of the man in the doorway, even as he stepped forward through the door and stood under the dim, uncovered bulb that was the only light source. It was as if he was wearing a permanent shadow over his face, to mask his features, but as he moved closer towards him, Gavin felt a shiver of dread run through him. He took in the man’s build; stocky and fit, but with a bit of a beer belly. Blurry tattoos littered the visible parts of his arms, and Gavin was oddly sure that should the man roll up his shirt sleeves, they would continue upwards past his shoulders._   
_He tried to speak, but the man interjected before he could get a word out._   
_‘Hush, quiet now, little Creeper. I’m glad you’ve finally woken up; I didn’t like keeping you in here, but I was waiting. I want to see your face when you walk into the bedroom, and see everything all ready and set up for us.’ The man crouched down in front of him; his face still veiled by shadow, and gently, almost lovingly, caressed his cheek._   
_Gavin’s mind was foggy and confused, but his blood ran icy cold at the man’s touch. ‘Wh-what? Bedroom? What’s all ready?’_   
_‘The equipment of course, Gavvy. And the cameras; I know you’ll do anything as long as it’s on camera, buddy, so don’t you worry- I’ve got it all sorted out. Wanna me to take you there now? Or would you like a drink or something before we get started?’_   
_Gavin swallowed hard ‘I...Cameras? What...NO, no I don’t want to go anywhere with you! Untie me, where am I? Where’s Michael?’_   
_Even with his features still obscured, Gavin could somehow tell that the man was smiling as the hand petting his cheek moved round to cup his chin, the rough pad of the man’s thumb stroking his bottom lip. ‘You don’t want to go anywhere? Mmmm, so eager! I guess we could start here, give a little pre-view of what’s to come’_   
_Gavin paled and struggled against his bindings as he suddenly realised that he was only wearing boxers, his other clothes must have been removed prior to him being tied up. He closed his eyes and tried to blot out what was happening as the hand on his face moved down his body, tweaking his nipples, as the man’s other hand caressed his inner thigh._   
_Despite himself, he couldn’t keep back a gasp as the hand continued its journey downwards to cup his crotch, his body betraying him as he felt himself grow slightly hard at the touch._   
_‘Why?’ He whimpered ‘why are you doing this? Who are you?’_   
_The man let out an all too familiar chuckle. Gavin’s eyes flew open, and to his horror, saw that the shadow over the man’s face had lifted._   
_‘It’s me Gav. What’s the matter? Don’t you recognise your boss?’Geoff moved even closer, his face coming forward as if to kiss him. ‘C’mon buddy, I know you want this. My pretty little Creeper Boy.’_   
_A scream tore from Gavin’s throat as he violently recoiled, smacking the back of his head against the metal pipe to which he was still bound. Geoff came closer and closer, grinning manically, his hands still teasing Gavin’s half hard dick through his boxers. Gavin screamed, and screamed, and screamed, crashing his own head against the pipe with every yell._

Gavin awoke with a whimper, shivering. In the throes of his nightmare, he had kicked the covers off, and it was very cold in Michael’s room at night.  
After wildly looking all round the room, Gavin confirmed that, yes he was alone, no there wasn’t any immediate danger, and yes, it was –thankfully- a dream. A terrifying flash-back style dream, but a dream none the less.    
He rushed into the bathroom as the images of Geoff’s hands running all over his body once again assaulted his thoughts, causing bile and last night’s pizza to rise up into his throat.  
After emptying his stomach into Michael’s otherwise pristine toilet bowl, Gavin slumped to the floor, resting his head against the cool glass of the shower door. He brought his knees up to his chin, and hugged himself, trying to recreate the comfort he felt from Ryan’s embrace.  
He sobbed dryly, when his attempt failed, and only made him feel more alone from missing the man. Thinking of Ryan made his thoughts turn to the rest of the Achievement Hunters. How would he be able to face them? How would he be able to go into work Monday, now that his mind seemed to be incapable of separating his attacker, and his boss, his father figure?  
He couldn’t stop the horrendous spark of fear that coursed through his entire body when he thought of Geoff, only just managing to bite back a yelp when he remembered that Michael was still sleeping in the next room. Somehow, he was just going to have to force himself to not be afraid of Geoff, he thought guiltily.  
Without even really thinking about it, he stood up, and snatched Michael’s nail scissors from the bathroom cabinet.  
Sitting back down on the floor, opening the scissors, he forced himself to think of Geoff. _Geoff coming towards him out of the shadows_. Gavin swallowed, and made a shallow cut on his upper thigh, flinching at the pain. _Geoff touching him in all the places Gavin never wanted him to touch._ Another cut joined the first, and Gavin marvelled at the way the beads of blood rose up above his skin instantly. _Geoff smiling at him evilly as he begs him to stop, to let him go._ A third cut. Gavin has never self harmed in his life, but now he understands why people do it. With each cut, he feels a little better. The guilt and fear haven’t been alleviated, but Gavin feels the punishment he is dealing himself is helping him. He mustn’t be afraid of Geoff, its wrong of him to be afraid of him. What happened to him was his own fault, so for his mind to pin it on Geoff was downright disgusting of him.Forth, fifth and sixth cuts soon joined the others.  
An hour and fourteen shallow cuts later, Gavin set down the scissors. He washed the blood from the blade, and replaced it in its little holder. His mind a lot calmer and clearer, he wiped the blood on his hands onto his boxers, taking care not to get any on Michael’s shirt. Thinking that his friend wouldn’t mind, he took a gauze and bandage from the cabinet, and set about cleaning and binding his cuts, breathing heavily when applying the anti-septic, before making his way back to bed.

 

Two hours later, Gavin woke up from a dreamless snooze to Michael gently calling his name. Lifting the cover slightly, he peeked out at his friend, smiling shyly.  
‘Morning Micoooool’ he cooed.  
Michael grinned at him ‘Morning, asshole. Griffon’s come to see ya, so hurry up and get dressed. You can borrow one of my shirts for now, and I guess you could use a pair of my boxers.’ He grimaced comically, as Gavin poked his tongue out at him, still under the covers.    
‘Wait.’ Gavin sat up ‘did you say Griffon is here? Why?’ he asked, looking perplexed  
‘Oh, me and her are secretly bangin’ but don’t tell Geoff.’ Michael replied rolling his eyes, and Gavin could swear he could almost _see_ the sarcasm dripping from his lips. ‘To see your dumb face, what do you fuckin’ think? So hurry the fuck up and get dressed.’  
Gavin groaned as Michael exited the room, before rolling out of bed, and making his way over to the chest of draws where he knew Michael kept his underwear. Yanking on the first pair he grabbed, as well as helping himself to a pair of socks, he pulled on his own jeans and smiled to himself as he selected the ‘Team Nice Dynamite’ shirt from Michael’s extensive collection.  
Still yawning, he made his way into the living room.  
Griffon was indeed there, sitting on the couch, chatting to Michael. Upon seeing Gavin enter, the conversation abruptly ended, and Griffon stood up, and cautiously held her arms open towards him. For some reason, it stung Gavin that she was all but asking his permission to hug him, when before all of this; she would have launched herself at him screaming ‘ready or not!! CATCH!!’ but he stepped willingly into her embrace, and all but crumpled inside when he felt her arms circle round his waist. He hadn’t noticed how much he missed simple physical contact until it happened.  
She held him for a few minutes, allowing him time to adjust his breathing back to a more steady rate, before pulling away and holding him at arm’s length, looking him up and down in a motherly fashion. She seemed to approve of whatever it was she saw, as she smiled at him, and nodded appreciatively at Michael, who was grinning at Gavin’s choice of shirt.  
‘Hell yea, Team Nice Dynamite all the way boi!’ he exclaimed, holding a fist out towards him for a bump, which Gavin happily supplied.

Michael tactfully went to make some coffee for everyone, whilst Griffon and Gavin sat on the couch. It wasn’t until then that Gavin noticed the full bin liner on the floor beside Griffon’s shoes. He glanced at her, and nodded at it questioningly.  
‘Oh right! How stupid of me, that’s why I came over.’  Griffon smiled at him ‘Geoff and I talked-’ she ignored his visible flinch at the name ‘-and we decided that you’re probably gonna need your stuff. So we collected together as many of your clothes as we could fit into one bag, and I picked up your tooth brush. I even remembered all your hair gel.’ She grinned at him teasingly, expecting a squawk or the usual denial (lie) of how much hair gel he needs, but instead she was met with a horrified stare.  
‘You....you’re chucking me out? Is Ge- is he really that mad at me? Does he hate me now? I’m sorry, I’ll be better Griffon, I swear I will! Please, please don’t chuck me out!’ Gavin looked like he was going to burst into tears at any second as he looked at Griffon, frantically scrabbling to grab hold of her hand, as if anchoring himself to her.  
‘What? No, no baby, we’re not throwing you out, you’re welcome back whenever you want! It’s just that what with your thing about Geoff-‘ Gavin winced ‘-we thought you would want to stay at Michaels for a while, and figured you would need your stuff. We are absolutely NOT evicting you honey, and as soon as you are ready to come back to us, your annex will be waiting for you, just like always. Promise.’ She held out her arms again, and he fell into them eagerly, clutching hold of her as if he thought she would change her mind if he let go.

After Griffon left –Gavin making her promise several more times that of course he still had (and would always have) a home with the Ramsey’s- the two lads once again found themselves alone.  
Gavin wiped his eyes, suddenly self conscious about how much he had been crying during Griffon’s visit, but Michael merely grinned at him.  
‘Well I dunno about you, but I have some editing to do. Griffon brought your Mac over, in case you had some Minecraft to edit or something.’ Gav nodded ‘figured. C’mon then, I’ll make us some more cwoffee, and we can get to it, sound good?’ Gavin nodded again, smiling. He liked Michael’s coffee.  
Soon the two were settled at the table, chatting while they worked, Michael topping up the drinks and fetching lunch and snacks when needed. Gavin had to relent and let Michael sync the audio, as he almost knocked over the coffee cups several times whenever he unexpectedly heard Geoff voice, but other than that, it was an uneventful, but comfortable, few hours of work.  
When it hit half five, Michael groaned and stretched. ‘Well, I’m finally fucking done! Just gotta let it render, then it can be uploaded. I put way too much fucking effort into these 4 fucking minute Rage Quits. How about you boi nearly done?’  
Gavin grinned at him ‘I’ve been playing Minesweeper for about half an hour waiting for you to finish boy.’  
Michael groaned again ‘You motherfucker. Alright, well I think its dinner time, and then you wanna play some Minecraft, for funsies? Been a while since we visited ‘Michael & Gav Happy World.’  
‘Yeah boy!’ Gavin held his hand out for a high five, which Michael slapped, albeit with nowhere near the same level of force he usually would have.  
Michael made them spaghetti bolognaise, a large portion of which Gav somehow managed to spill down his borrowed shirt, much to Michaels feigned annoyance.  
After changing back into the shirt he slept in, Gav set up the Xbox, and snuggled up beside Michael. They played for a good few hours, with Gavin only destroying Michael’s creations a _few_ times with his seemingly never ending buckets of lava.  
It was about midnight when Michael noticed Gavin nodding off on his shoulder, and insisted that they call it a night and turn in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have very good reasons why this is so late, and you can see them on my author bio if you really care enough :P  
> also, this section is EVEN longer than I thought it was gonna, so the next chapter is Weekend at Mikeys part 3....


	6. Weekend at Mikeys (Part 3)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin remembers some stuff. Michael is lovely.  
> *warning, gets kind of descriptive in regards to the assault from here on out*

At about 3.30am, Michael was violently awoken by what he would later describe as the most terrifying and agonising sound he had ever heard.  
Running full pelt into the bedroom, he launched himself onto the bed, tentatively reaching out a hand to touch the man laying in it.  
Gavin was screaming so hard, Michael was surprised his throat wasn’t raw. As soon as he felt Michael’s hand on his shoulder, his body seemed to go into spasm, limbs thrashing so wildly that Michael had to dodge a few times and step back to avoid getting punched or kicked.  
‘Gavin!’ Michael whimpered, eyes wide, unsure of what to do. He could hear his neighbours banging on the walls, but he didn’t care. His attention was taken by the sight of his best friend clearly trapped in a truly horrific nightmare. He was unsure of how to proceed in this situation. Hadn’t he read something about not waking up people in nightmares? Or was that sleep walkers? He couldn’t remember, and had to fight to keep from panicking himself. After a few agonising minutes, it became clear to Michael that Gavin wasn’t about to calm down on his own anytime soon, so he had to take the chance and wake him up.  
He carefully made his way back to the bed, holding down Gavin’s arms. This only seemed to exacerbate the dream as Gavin proceeded to scream at him to stop, to let him go, giving Michael a pretty good idea what it was about, but he had no choice. He crouched over his friend, holding his arms, begging him to wake up, please wake up. He didnt even realise he was crying until he saw tears drip down onto Gavin’s face. He moved his hands up to grip Gavin’s shoulders, shaking him, desperate to stop the man’s ongoing screams, to stop his pain.  
Eventually he saw Gavin open his eyes, and the screaming subsided. Relief flooded through him.  
‘Oh god, oh thank god, thank _god!_ ’ His head slumped so it was buried into Gavin’s shoulder.  
Just as it occurred to him that the way his body was currently pressed against his friends was almost certainly not going to help the situation, he felt Gavin’s arms wrap around his neck, hands clutching his hair. Michael returned the gesture, holding Gavin securely as the boy sobbed into his neck.

Once the tears had subsided, the boys found themselves simply lying in each other’s arms for an hour or so.  
‘I’m remembering stuff Michael. About the night I was...raped. I remember more stuff now.’  
Michael didn’t even think of attempting to broche the subject of the nightmare, so to say he was surprised at Gavin bringing it up was an understatement.  
‘Okay Gav.’ Michael ventured cautiously. ‘Do you wanna talk about it? We don’t have to, but if you think it’d help, I’m here for you boi.’ He gave the lad a small squeeze on the shoulder.  
‘I...I think I do. Because my brain has got it all minged up, Michael. Instead of the...the bloke who did it...all I can picture is...Geoff.’ the Brit explained in a small voice.  
Michael nodded. ‘Well, why don’t you tell me what you can remember?’  
Gavin nodded in response, and took a deep breath.

***  
‘Look, you see, I’ve set it all up for us, buddy. We’re gonna have a fun old time, you and I. Aren’t I just tippy toppers?’ The man with Geoff’s face ushered (pushed) Gavin into the bedroom.  
He looked around in horror. There were chains hanging from the ceiling, whips and ropes strewn around the room, almost artistically. Cameras –both video and digital- were set up around the area around the bed, as if to capture every possible angle of the duvet. Gavin shivered. He was pretty sure that it wasn’t the duvet that Geoff intended to document in such great detail.  
His fears were immediately confirmed as he was lead (dragged) him to the bed via the rope that was still fixing his hands behind his back.  
He was pushed onto the bed, face up, as Geoff straddled his hips, and attacked his lips with his teeth. Before he was even aware that they had been untied, his wrists were attached to the headboard with handcuffs, and Geoff had shuffled down, and was now positioned in between his unwillingly spread legs. Gavin failed to bite back a moan as he felt a hot tongue lick a strip up his still clothed dick. Geoff grinned up at him wickedly, slipping a hand up the leg of Gavin’s boxers, a lubed finger teasing round his hole. Tears sprang to his eyes as he felt the digit enter him, shortly joined by another one, working together to create a scissoring action inside of him.  
His underwear was being slipped off of his body, and he struggled to keep them on, bringing his legs up as much as he could. He heard a grunt from Geoff as his knee collided with the man’s side, and he silently cheered his small victory when he slid off of him.  
It was a short lived celebration however, when the man re-entered his field of vision, this time also naked, and once again mounted him. Gavin yelped and bucked in protest, but stilled in fear when he felt a finger press to his lips.  
‘Hush, baby boy, hush. The night is young, and we have fuckin’ all of it to play with. I intend to make this last as long as possible, so don’t you worry.’ Geoff petted his hair. ‘Daddy’s got you Gavvy, I’m here, and I’m gonna make it good for you, as long as you make it good for me.’  
Gavin whimpered as Geoff forced his mouth to open, and shoved his tongue down his throat, before re-taking his position at Gavin’s groin.  
He couldn’t stop the tears falling as his boxers were completely removed, and the man replaced his fingers, adding a third and stretching the lad. When the fingers found his prostrate, Gavin’s body completely betrayed him. His cock hardened, and he couldn’t help but arch his back and hiss, pushing himself down on the intruding fingers in spite of himself.  
‘See baby? I can’t make it good. I knew you wanted this Gavvy, I know you better than anyone.’  
Gavin couldn’t help but watch at Geoff’s lips made their way down to wrap around his cock, as he sobbed from the pleasure and confusion circling in his head.  
***

By the end of recounting what he remembered, Gavin was sobbing in Michaels arms again, this time the pair sitting up; Michael leaning against the headboard, and Gavin in his lap.  
‘You know it’s not your fault, right Gav? The way your body...reacted. It happens, its natural. It absolutely does not mean you wanted any of it! You know that, right?’ Michael asked anxiously, playing with Gavin’s hair.  
There was a short pause before he felt him nod against his chest.  
‘Good. Cause its true.’  
Gavin whimpered and snuggled into his chest more, hiccupping in his attempt to stop crying.  
‘Do you wanna go back to sleep?’ a pause and then another nod.  
‘Do you want me to go?’  Gavin violently shakes his head, burying his face deeper into Michael’s shirt.  
‘shhh, it’s okay Gav, I won’t leave if you don’t want me to.’  
They shift in the bed, so Michael is still sat up, but Gavin is beside him, head on the pillow, back pressed against Michael’s leg. Michael intended to wait til he drops off, and then go back to his camp bed, but it appears that Gavin had other ideas.  
‘Gav, you asleep?’  
Silence.  
Michael  smiles, and gently pets the sleeping mans hair, preparing to gently leave the bed, when Gavin rolls over and latches onto him, head resting in his lap, pinning him to where he sat.  
Michael freezes, waiting for Gavin to move again. When he didn't, and in fact actually started snoring, Michael realised he had three options:  
1\. Wake Gavin up and get him to let go – well, he _really_ didn’t want to do that, seeing how peaceful the lad finally looked, plus it would probably make him think he had done something wrong.  
2\. Try to gently prise him away, without waking him up – he didn’t really want to try that one either, as this could have the same outcome as option 1.     
So that just left option 3. Stay exactly where he was, and let Gavin sleep on him.  
Michael sighed, and settled down as much as he could, for what he was sure was going to be the worst night sleep he had ever had.

  
It wasn’t til almost 10am when Gavin eventually awoke from the longest and most satisfying sleep he could remember having in a long time. Still lying on his side, with not yet opened eyes, he stretched his limbs, arching his back like a cat, before wrapping his arms around the body next to him, and burrowing deeper under the covers.  
Hold on...  
Gavin cracked open one eye.  
Michael was sat on the bed still, back resting against the wooden headboard, head bowed forward so far that his chin was resting on his chest. Gavin was clutching onto his side, with both his legs wrapped round one of Michaels.  
Mortified, Gavin set about carefully untangling his various limbs from Michael’s body. At least, he _tried_ to be careful about it. He discovered that he was in fact closer to the edge of the bed than he had realised, when whilst trying to pull his arm out from behind Michael’s back, he leaned backwards a bit too far, and with a patented Gavin squawk, tumbled over the edge of the bed, wrenching his arm from where it was trapped in the process, but also landing an accidental kick directly into Michaels ribs.  
‘MOTHER FUCKER!!’ Michael gasped, clutching his chest ‘WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO YOU IDIOT!?’  
Gavin peeked over the edge of the bed from where he sat in a heap on the floor.  
‘I’m sorry Micool! I woke up and I was hugging you, and you looked uncomfortable, and I didn’t know how you would react cuz I was hugging you like an octopus, and my arm was trapped Micool! I just didn’t wanna wake you...’      
‘Well, you certainly fuckin’ woke me’ Michael grunted, rolling his stiff shoulders and rubbing his aching neck. ‘And I know you were fucking wrapped around me; you fell asleep like that, asshole, so I had to stay there all night. Man my neck kills!’  
Gavin blushed, looking ashamed. ‘I...I’m sorry Michael. I didn’t mean it. You were just so cuddly and warm. I felt...safe...’ he trailed off, looking at the floor.  
Michael sighed.  
‘I’m not mad at you Gavin, I just didn’t get a great nights sleep, that’s all bud. I’m glad you slept well though. Hey, I’m happy to have helped at all!’ Michael grinned, though Gavin could clearly see how tired the Jersey Boy was. He was still massaging his neck, and had dark circles under his eyes.  
Seeing how Michael was trying to make everything okay for him, suddenly had Gavin feeling overwhelmed.  
With no warning, he jumped up onto the bed and threw his arms around Michael’s neck, bawling into his shoulder. Without even thinking about it, Michael’s arms come up to envelope the lad, one hand burying itself in his hair, stroking comfortingly on the back of his head. He couldn’t help but notice how incredibly soft it felt between his fingers, and with each movement, wafts of spicy smelling shampoo hit his nostrils.  
Its only a few moments this time before Gavin pulls away, looking at Michael sheepishly from where he sat cross legged on the bed.  
‘Um, sorry. Dunno what came over me really’ he scratched his head self consciously ‘I guess I’ve just been super emotional lately, and you’ve been so bloody lovely to me... so, erm, thanks, I guess I’m tryin’a say.’  
Michael watches him wipe tear tracks from his cheeks, and is suddenly struck by how small Gavin suddenly seems; how childlike and innocent, in his boxers and Michaels over sized shirt (which was strange, because Michael could’ve sworn he had gotten changed into the pyjamas Griffon had brought over last night).  
‘Hey, don’t worry about it Gavvers. I told you before; anything you need, I’m here for ya, squirt.’ He leant forward and ruffled his hair, as one would when reassuring a child.  
He was rewarded with a small, albeit watery smile.  
‘Now waddaya say about getting some breakfast on the go? I fancy some MOTHER FUCKIN’ PANCAAAAAKES!’ he punched the air, cheering inside when Gavin squeaked with laughter at his over excitement.

They had a lazy day, Michael deciding to procrastinate on the editing he had scheduled to do that day, and insisting that Gavin do the same.  
Instead, the pair raided Michaels snack cupboard, forgoing proper meals, and binging on soda, potato chips and cookies, with strawberry ice-cream for ‘dessert’ as they made their way through the entire 2 seasons of ‘Scooby Doo; Mystery Incorporated’.  
Once again, it was Michael who insisted on enforcing bedtime.  
As he prepared to set up the camp bed again, he noticed Gavin hovering nervously by the door to the room.  
‘Wassup Gavvers? Need help with summin’?’ Michael slurred. Having not slept very well at all the previous night, he was all but ready to keel over in exhaustion.  
‘Um, no, its just...I...I was.’  
‘Spit it out Gav, I wanna go to sleeeeeep’ Michael wined teasingly  
‘Will you stay in the bed with me?’ Gavin blurted out.  
Michael blinked at him.  
‘I mean, I know nothing is gonna...get me. But I just want...just in case...y’know?’ Gavin faultered, blushing furiously.  
Michael nodded at him, grabbing his pillow before taking the other man’s hand and leading him to the bedroom.  
‘Baggsie right side.’ Michael mumbled, collapsing onto said section of the bed, leaving Gavin to clamber over him happily, before snuggling down beside him.  
‘Night night, my little Micool’ he whispered, smiling softly in the semi-darkness.  
‘Night Gav.’ Came the soft grunt in reply.  
There was silence for a couple of minutes before;  
‘Micool?’  
Silence.  
Gavin opened his eyes and saw that Michael had already fallen asleep beside him. Sighing contently, Gavin snuggled closer towards him, noticing the small sleepy smile spread over Michael’s face as the unconscious man shift his arm in his sleep to draw Gavin towards him in order to hold him closer to his body.  
Gavin sighed again, positively beaming. He settled down in Michael’s arms, not being able to recall a time where he felt as comfortable and protected as this. He briefly wondered how Michael would react should he awaken in the morning to find them in this position, before drifting off into nightmare-free slumber.         


	7. I'm Calling a Family Meeting!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for everyone to be on the same page in the AH office.

‘Morning Gavin!’  
...  
‘Up ‘n at ‘em, Kiddo!’  
...  
‘Rise and shine! Time to get up!’  
...  
‘Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey!’  
...  
‘WAKE THE FUCK UP, NERD!’  
Michael punctuated the final wakeup call by throwing a pillow at the British man in his bed, who was stubbornly clinging to sleep.  
It landed on his stomach, earning an ‘ooft!’ and groan from said Brit. He propped himself up on one elbow and glared at Michael, who raised his hands in the air in mock celebration.  
‘Halle-fuckin-lujah! He lives! Listen Shit Head; I didn’t know if you wanted to go to work today or not, but if you do then get the fuck up. If not, then you can go back to sleep, and I’ll collect some work from the office and come back here to work. So what you wanna do?’  
Gavin yawned and starched in a feline like fashion, running his hands through his already tussled hair in a way that Michael couldn’t help but find adorable.  
He waited patiently for a response as the lad chugged down the water that Michael had left on the nightstand, before finally sitting up fully and flashing a sleepy smile at the red-head.  
‘Did you say there was eggs and bacon?’  
Michael groaned, rolling his eyes.  
‘Of fucking course _that’s_ the bit you heard!’  
  
                                                                                     ****  
  
After breakfast (there had indeed been bacon and eggs) Gavin had decided that he did want to go to work, so Michael bundled him into his car, stating that he couldn’t be bothered to walk.  
When they arrived, Gavin tried to ignore the pitying looks he was receiving; waving to Kara as he walked by the front desk, and scurrying up to the Achievement Hunter office. He had to drag Michael up with him, as the Jersey boy had wanted to ‘have words with’ the people whispering and staring at Gavin as they passed them. He pulled the fuming man into a quick, grateful hug before entering the office, yelling a greeting to Ray and shooting a thumbs up at Ryan.  
They past a reasonably normal half-hour ; Michael griping about leaving his flash drive at home, as Ray added yet more X-Ray and Vav fanart to his wall. Gavin had taken up his place from Friday and tucked himself under Ryan’s arm, making his patented ‘Gavin Noises’ as the older man attacked him with precise pokes and tickles to the ribs.  
  
The door to the office opened, and Ryan ceased his assault on Gavin’s sides. Suddenly all eyes were on the lad as Geoff stepped tentatively into the room.  
Gavin tried to appear relaxed as his eyes locked with the man he had come to see as a father, flashing him a watery smile.  
‘A...Alright, G-G-Geoff?’ His stammer betrayed him, and pain accompanied the fear coursing through him as he saw Geoff’s hopeful expression shift into sadness.

‘...Yeah...Yeah I’m alright, Gav. Just came in to get some stuff. If anyone needs me, I’ll be in Burnie’s office. Again.’ The last word was said with a resigned sigh.  
All eyes in the room were still trained onto Gavin, and Ryan’s hand tightened around his own as he watched Geoff collect some bits and pieces from his desk. He wanted to say something; tell him not to leave, apologise- anything! But fear and anxiety had paralysed him, his throat was dry, and his mouth remained closed as Geoff made his way towards the door.  
‘It was good to see you, Gavin.’ Geoff all but whispered, nodding meaningfully at Ryan, before leaving.  
The room was silent for several minutes, everyone still watching Gavin, who was pointedly staring at the floor.  
‘I’m going to the bathroom’ he muttered, hurriedly exiting the room.  
His legs carried to the closest toilet, and he shut the door, before leaning over the bowl and spilling his stomach into it. The taste of vomit made him gag even more, and he retched again and again, until he was spitting bile into the murky water.  
He became aware of a hand on his back and fingers petting his hair, and leaned into the touch, whimpering, tears streaming down his face. Ryan had followed him. When he was certain Gavin had finished throwing up, the blond man sat back onto the cubical floor, pulling the boy onto his lap and held him until he stopped trembling.  
‘I dunno why this is happening, Ry. I love him; he’s practically family to me! Why am I so afraid of him?’  
Ryan’s hand continued its ministrations in Gavin’s hair, knowing that the simple contact was soothing the lad. ‘I’m sorry Gavin; I don’t have an answer for you. But I think-‘ he paused as Gavin pulled away, palming his eyes. He helped him to his feet and passed him tissues to dry his face on after he splashed himself with water. ‘-I think you need to talk to the guys.’ Ryan continued carefully.  
To his surprise, Gavin sighed and nodded.  
‘Yeah. I’ve been thinking about that actually. I don’t want anyone thinking that Ge- that he did something wrong. It’s all my poxy brains fault.’ He sighed again, pinching the bridge of his nose. ‘Well, better get this over with. Will you...will you stand with me, Rye-Bread?’ he turned to face Ryan, a slightly pleading look in his eyes.  
Ryan smiled and pulled him into a loose hug. ‘Course I will Gav.’

 

The room fell (suspiciously) silent as Gavin re-entered the office, shadowed very closely by Ryan. Even if he wasn’t feeling paranoid lately, there was no wondering what the topic of conversation had been, judging by the awkward glances between Michael and Jack. Great.  
‘Um, hi guys. I have some...stuff... I wanna say. I’d like to say it to everyone at once though, so Ray? D’you mind getting Lindsay, Kerry, Caleb and Kdin for us please?’  
Ray nodded, squeezing Gavin’s arm supportively as he left the room.  
Ryan placed a hand lightly on Gavin’s back, leaning in to speak quietly in his ear. ‘Should we get Geoff and Burnie in here too? It’s probably best if you speak to Geoff personally; I know he’s worried about you.’  
Gav nodded and turned to Jack, who was still looking up at him expectantly.  
‘Jack, can you get Burnie and G-Geoff? They are gonna wanna be here too...’

An awkward silence filled the room once more when everyone had been rounded up. Gavin stood at the head of the room, flanked by Michael and Ryan. He looked around at the faces staring at him. Burnie and Jack were looking concerned, whereas Geoff had a hopeful smile on his face, clearly just happy that Gavin had requested him to be there. Ray had apparently guessed the reason Gav had decided to talk to them all, and had given his group a heads-up, as he, Lindsay and Caleb were smiling at him encouragingly, and Kdin and Kerry were giving him a double thumbs up.  
He coughed nervously, shifting from foot to foot, unsure of how to begin.  
‘ACHIEVEMENT HUNTERS ASSEMBLEEEEE!!!’ Yelled Michael from his left side, breaking the tension instantly as everybody laughed.  
Gavin chuckled, turning to flash a grateful grin at his boi. ‘Cheers Micool! Well, yeah-‘ he turned again to address the small crowd ‘-I guess you’re all wondering why I’ve gathered you here today. Well no, you probably are already aware of my...err... _situation_ , but I’ve always wanted to say that.’ He smiled at them, trying to squash the stab of fear he felt when he caught Geoff’s eye.  
His self-appointed body guards apparently noticed him tense up slightly, as he felt Ryan move closer to him and Michael hand entwine with his own. Encouraged, he took a deep breath, and continued.  
‘Yeah, so you all know what happened to me a few nights ago’ he ignored all the sympathetic murmurs ‘and I’ve been having a bit of a tough time with a few things since then, so I just wanna go over some stuff. Just so everyone is on the same page.  
Due to the nature of what happened, I’m not really comfortable with people, um, touching me.’ He rubbed the back of his neck, as Michael squeezed his hand. ‘The only exceptions so far, as you can see, are Ryan and my boi Michael. So yeah, I’m working on that one. The other thing hasn’t actually happened, but I’ve been warned about it. Apparently, certain words or actions can apparently ‘trigger’ me. A nurse at the hospital said that hearing things that the...the attacker said or words relating to what happened might trigger a flash back or panic attack, so-‘ he fell silent as Ryan stepped forward to interrupt.  
‘I have a few things to say on that subject. If you see Gavin having a panic attack, the most important thing is to _stay calm_. You are useless to him if you are freaking out. Second; keep talking to him, but only touch him if he is comfortable with that. You will know instantly if he is not. If we are not present when it is happening, phone either myself or Michael. When he comes out of it, Gavin will be scared and upset, so it is important that at least one of us is there to be with him. Everybody got that?’ There was a collective nod ‘Okay, good. Sorry Gavin. Please continue.’  
He stepped back, motioning for a blushing Gavin to carry on.  
‘Um, yes. Thanks Ryan, I didn’t even think to talk about that. But, err, yeah. The last thing I wanted to say is about Geoff.’ Michael squeezed his hand again; proud of how steady Gavin was managing to keep his voice. ‘Geoff. I know you all noticed how much time he spent in Burnie’s office on Friday, and that I came in with Michael this morning. I’m actually living with Michael for the time being. The truth is, Geoff...’ Gavin turned to face the man in question, settling for looking slightly to the right of his face when he failed to pluck up the nerve to make eye contact.  
‘You...you look a bit like the man who...who...hurt me. I just wanted to...to let you know, let you all know, why I’m so bloody scared of you. I love you like my own dad, I really do, and I hate that my mind is being a mong about this. I want all of you to know that it’s not his fault, okay? It’s my fault, all of it. It’s my bloody fault.’ His voice tapered off as he began to shake, instinctively backing into Ryan and pulling Michael closer to him.  
He buried his face in Michael’s shoulder as the red-head motioned for everyone to leave. Lindsay and Ray was ushering everybody out, but Geoff took a step closer to Gavin, clearly wanting to comfort the lad. Ryan could see the agony and desperation on his face, tinged with something else, even as Burnie pulled the tattooed man from the room.  
It wasn’t until he was helping Gavin into Michael’s car- both of them having decided to take a few more days off- and spied Geoff watching them from a window, that Ryan recognised the emotion that had flickered across his bosses face:  
Guilt.  
Geoff felt guilty for resembling the sick fucker who violated his friend.

If you asked him about it, Ryan would swear that he actually felt his heart break as he watched Geoff’s eyes follow the car that carried his British son -the son that couldn’t even look him in the eye without cowering in terror- away from him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah this was a bit of a blah chapter :/ I'm not happy with it, but it needed to happen for the story to progress the way I wanted it to, so yeah. My apologies for the naff-ness. Next one will be better!!! :)
> 
> Also, see what I did there with the summery? Everyone is literally mentioned on the same page ;D ;D oh gosh I am so witty !! >_>


	8. The Devil Inside

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ray comes up with a plan to help Gavin reconcile with Geoff. There are mixed results.

For an entire week, Gavin refused to leave the house, see, or even speak to anyone but Michael -the only exception being when the red-head took him to the Police station to make his formal statement.  
Not even Ryan had been unable to gain an audience with the lad, although he had been round many times after work to try; only managing a brief conversation with him through the closed bedroom door. It wasn’t that Gavin didn’t trust him. Entirely the opposite in fact; aside from Michael, Ryan was the only other person in the world right now that he _did_ trust! And that was why he was terrified to see him.  
He had once trusted Geoff more than he had ever trusted anyone, and now his own _stupid_ brain had warped that trust into something foul and evil, to the extent where even thinking about seeing him turned his stomach. He absolutely could NOT let that happen with Ryan too.  
So Gavin had spent the week alternating between locking himself and Michael in the bedroom and sobbing in his friends arms as memories mingled with nightmares and assaulted his mind, or walking around the apartment in a daze, unable to focus on anything at all.  
  
Today, however, they sat curled around each other on the couch, laughing hysterically, a laptop balanced precariously on Michael’s leg.  
Ray had come up with an idea of how to get Gavin’s mind to recognise Geoff as ‘friend’ rather than ‘threat’, and had texted Michael immediately. The plan was for Gavin to watch Lets Plays and Lets Builds featuring himself and Geoff, in the hope that reliving the banter, familiarity and laughter the two shared in videos would trigger a positive reaction the next time they came face to face. And so far, Michael observed, it seemed to be working.  
‘ _Kudos to Ray!’_ he thought, slyly sneaking a peek at Gavin.  
He was completely engrossed in the current video they had put on -one of the earlier and most popular Minecraft Lets Plays- laughing every time Geoff and the others chided or groaned at his past (and very drunk) self. Michael couldn’t stop the beaming, fond smile that spread across his face as Gavin giggled beside him, his head resting on Michael’s shoulder. He sat up suddenly as scuffles and yelps could be heard on the audio, accompanied by a helpful note that explained that on-screen Michael had jumped up and tackled Gavin to the ground.  
He turned to face Michael, rubbing his arm, screwing his face up in mock pain.  
‘I remember that! That bloody hurt y’know Micool! Didn’t stop me getting the achievement though did it, ya pleb- Michael?’ Gavin stared at the grin on Michael’s face ‘Wh-why are you looking at me like that?’  
Michael positively beamed at him. ‘It’s just...it’s so good to hear you laugh, Gavvy. Best sound in the world; I love hearing it- I mean...yeah.’ His smiled faltered, and he looked back down at the laptop, blushing furiously. ‘I just meant it’s good to see you happy again.’  
Gavin stared at him for a few seconds, before hesitantly leaning in and brushing his lips against Michael’s cheek.  
Confused, Michael looked back up at him. Gavin’s face was pink, and he was squirming slightly.  
‘Um. Thanks, boi. I appreciate everything you’re doin’ f’me, y’know that yeah? Helping me with the Geoff thing and stuff. Just. Yeah. Appreciate it. Cheers.’  
They sat in an awkward silence, neither quite looking at the other, both choosing instead to focus on the screen.  
It took them longer than they would like to admit to actually realise that the video had finished several minutes beforehand, but neither wanted to be first to break the silence.    
Eventually, Michael coughed, and spoke  
‘Guess we should pick another video, huh?’  
‘Yeah, guess so.’ Gavin giggled nervously, still pink in the face.  
Michael selected from the suggested videos at random, hoping it would be a funny one- or at least one they could talk about. Anything to break the awkward atmosphere that had settled over them.  
The appearance of Gavin’s fucking weird face on a soldier informed him that it was Rainbow 6: Vegas, part 2. Excellent! He hadn’t seen it in a while, but from what Michael could remember from the last time he had watched it, it was fucking hilarious!  
He snorted when Gavin’s character ran across the screen, somehow managing to avoid being shot.  
‘I swear to fucking _god_ Gavin, I will never get over that fucking face dude!’  
He silently rejoiced as Gavin cackled along with him, and he felt the lad slide comfortably back down to rest his head on his shoulder again.  
They settled against each other, sniggering whenever Gavin’s character appeared.  
Michael felt a hand shyly snake over his leg, and looked down to see Gavin’s fingers entwine with his own.  
He could sense Gavin eyeing him cautiously, assessing his reaction.  
Without even really thinking about it, he squeezed the others hand reassuringly, lightly running his thumb over Gavin’s.  
He determined he had done the right thing when the Brit sighed contentedly and snuggled closer into his side.  
Both their gazes were firmly concentrated on the laptop, but they were wearing identical, blissful grins.  
They watched the video in a much more comfortable atmosphere; chatting and snickering at the antics on screen. Gavin felt completely relaxed for the first time in over a week. He smiled up at Michael as he commented on something dumb one of them had done in the game. Recently, he had begun to see his friend in an entirely new light, and at first this had terrified him. Not that Michael was a dude; Gavin had had the odd boyfriend and male hook-ups before, although it was rare, and Michael was (within the company) openly gay. No, what bothered him was that he couldn’t tell if what he was feeling towards Michael was real or not. Michael had been so lovely to him since the attack; Gavin was afraid that what he had begun to feel for him was simply him latching onto the main source of the little happiness he was experiencing lately, and warping it into a twisted form of love.  
Not to mention how emotionally broken he had felt since the attack. He actually doubted his ability to ever fully heal to the extent where he could let someone be close enough to fall in love with him. Not to mention that the thought of ever being intimate with anyone again was completely abhorrent to him right now.  
And if he did, it would surely have to be someone who didn’t know what he had been through. He internally scoffed. Of course. The attack had left him dirty. Defiled. Damaged. Michael wouldn’t want him now anyway; no one would, he thought to himself, bitterly. He had only taken him in out of pity, or perhaps a sense of duty, seeing as they were best friends. Or even guilt, he thought with a jolt. He frowned, thinking it over.  
Yes, it had been Michael he had been out with that night, and Michael had decided to leave early to make sure a very drunk Lindsay got home safely. Gavin had insisted on staying though, assuring Michael that he was quite capable of looking after himself, and he was only gonna have a few more before calling a taxi. Yeah, he had clearly been bloody capable of looking after himself, he thought darkly. Michael must feel guilty; like he should have tried harder to convince him to leave with them. That’s why he took him in.

A bark of laughter jolted Gav out of his musing, and he realised he had totally spaced out, and had missed about 5 minutes of the video they were only watching for his benefit.  
Guiltily, he forced himself to focus on the Lets Play once more.  
  
He’d picked a bad time to resurface from his thoughts.  
  
‘GAH! Don’t spawn in front of me like that; you almost got your fucking asshole ripped apart!’  
  
Both lads froze as Geoff’s voice blared out from the speakers.  
Michael immediately paused the video, placing the laptop carelessly on the floor and turning to Gavin to hopefully prevent him reacting badly to the words.  
He wasn’t quick enough.  
  
 _‘Mmmmm, I’m gonna rip your asshole apart, Baby Boy. Gonna fuck you so hard you’ll think about it every time you sit down for weeks! You’ll remember who you belong to, wont you? Go on; say it for me, Baby. Who do you belong to? Who owns this sweet little ass?’_  
 _‘Please...please, stop! Don’t do this, please!’_  
 _The man with Geoff’s face tightens his grip on Gavin’s hair, causing the young man to yelp in pain as some are ripped out by the root._  
 _‘I asked you a question, Gavin! I told you, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. The easy way will feel much better for you, I promise. Now. Who do you belong to?’_  
 _‘YOU! I belong to you! Now please, please let me go. I want to go home, please, please!’Gavin begged futilely, tears pouring down his cheeks and blurring his vision._  
 _He sobbed openly as the man’s fingers curled upwards, expertly locating and stroking his prostate._  
 _He squeezed his eyes tightly shut as Geoff’s fingers worked inside of him, caressing the little bundle of nerves in a sinisterly tender fashion._  
 _‘Doesn’t that feel good, my little Creeper Boy? See, Daddy knows what you like. Let Daddy take care of you, Baby. I can tell it feels good; look how big your cock is. Look how it aches to be touched, how it leaks for me.’_  
 _The hand untangles from his hair, and moves down to ghost teasingly over his unwanted erection, causing him to whimper; opening his eyes and unwillingly bucking into the touch._  
 _‘Mmmmm, you are an eager one today. Okay, I’ll relent. Daddy won’t make his Baby Boy wait any longer.’_  
 _Geoff grinned at him with the air of one granting a huge treat._  
 _Gavin sobbed a sigh of relief as, after planting a kiss almost lovingly on his forehead, Geoff sat back on his haunches, moving himself off of Gavin._  
 _His relief was fleeting however, as he heard the unmistakable sound of foil being torn. He didn’t have to be a genius to know what was happening; he knew it had been leading here, but he had blotted it out; thought that just maybe, if he didn’t think about it, the older man would just leave him alone._  
 _Geoff was back, rolling a condom onto his cock, sweat glistening unpleasantly on his arms and chest, covering him in a thin film of sickly moisture._  
 _He placed himself over Gavin once more, leaning in as if to whisper sweet nothings into the lad’s ear._  
 _Gavin knew that if there was any chance of preventing this happening, he had to act NOW._  
 _Violently, he threw his head forward with as much force as he could muster, catching Geoff square in the jaw and causing him to jump back, yelling and cursing in pain and shock._  
 _Whilst Geoff was still reeling from the blow, Gavin leapt up and legged it towards the exit, stumbling a little in his haste._  
 _‘Get back here you little bitch!’_  
 _He hadn’t even made it halfway to the door when he was grabbed by the waist and lifted off the ground. Kicking and shouting, he fought with all his might, but Geoff was carrying him back towards the bed, seemingly unaffected by his efforts._  
 _Effortlessly, he was thrown back down onto the bed. He struggled as much as he could, but a cloth was tied around his mouth, gagging him; muffling his screams, as Geoff pinned him down, seething in anger. A sharp slap around his face caused him to halt his struggles as Geoff forcefully back-handed him._  
 _‘I told you we could do this the easy way or the hard way. I could have made this good for you, Gavin. I was trying so hard. Why didn’t you just listen to me? Why did you have to make this difficult for me? Well, now you’ll see what happens to little bitches who don’t do as they’re told.’ The tattooed man hissed at him, face contorted in rage._  
 _He flipped Gavin over so his face was buried in the mattress, pinning him there by pressing a knee into the small of his back as he slicked up his cock._  
 _Gavin could feel the knee being replaced with the man’s hands and, feeling his cock lining up with his abused hole, tried desperately to relax his muscles for what he knew was coming._  
 _It didn’t help, and a howl of pain tore out through his gag as Geoff’s cock plunged into him, burying itself fully inside his anus._  
 _Geoff groaned delightedly. ‘Ohhh, you’re so TIGHT, Baby Boy! So deliciously tight for Daddy.’_  
 _He was barely given any time to adjust before Geoff started moving; ruthlessly and mercilessly pounding into him, every other thrust causing the head of the invading penis bump against his prostate; the pain and pleasure making him feel like he was being torn in two from the arse up._  
 _He felt ashamed and disgusted him himself as one of Geoff’s hands worked its way round his hips to grasp his own traitorously hard shaft._  
 _He determinedly bit back a moan as the hand pumped his cock, pulling back the foreskin so a thumb could tease the sensitive head._  
 _‘See how good I am to you? You’ve upset me, but I’m still making it good for you Gavvy.’_  
 _Gavin whimpered again, hating the shiver of arousal that ran through him, and the familiar heat pooling in his stomach._  
 _‘Are you gonna cum for me, Gav? Mmmmm, you’ve gotten all tight around my cock. Go on; cum for me. Cum for Daddy. I’m not far behind you, Baby.’_  
 _Gavin sobbed as he spilled over the hand still working his cock, cringing as he felt the man inside him shiver and increase the pace of his thrusting, before letting out a guttural moan as he too came, biting into Gavin’s shoulder._  
 _The hand that had been holding his hip came up to caress his face._  
 _‘See Gavin? See how much I love you? You’re such a good boy, cumming when Daddy told you.’ He felt a kiss being planted on his cheek ‘You rest now, Baby Boy. Get your strength for later.’_  
 _‘L-later?’_  
 _‘Of course, Gavvy. We have all night to play, remember?’_

‘Gavin, GAVIN! Please come back to me, please Gavin! Its ok, I promise you its ok buddy, please? Please come back to me!’  
Michael was on his knees in front of him, and Gavin could see that he was trying desperately to keep calm.  
‘M’okay, Michael. I’m okay.’  
Relief flooded the Jersey boys face as he stared searchingly into his friends no longer wide and petrified eyes.  
‘You sure Gav? Is there anything I can do? God that was terrifying; you didn’t hyperventilate. You didn’t move at all! You just sort of...tensed up and froze! I didn’t know what to do! I called Ryan; he’ll be here soon. I’m sorry Gav, I’m so fuckin’ sorry. I should have checked the video or something, I don’t fucking know. Watched a bunch first to make sure they were ok. God I am so fucking sorry!’  
Michael looked on the verge of tears.  
‘its okay, Michael. You’ve done so much for me. You’ve been amazing, honestly. It’s not your fault my brain isn’t working right anymore.’  
‘Is there anything I can do? Anything I can get you?’ Michael enquired desperately.  
Gavin shook his head. ‘I just wanna sleep now to be honest.’  
‘Ok buddy. You go on, I’ll just get some water and I’ll be there in a bit.’ He pulled the Brit into a hug, burying his face into his shoulder.  
They sat holding each other, until Gavin eventually gently pushed Michael off, and made his way to bed.  
Wiping his eyes, Michael fired off a text to Ryan, hoping the man hadn’t left home yet.  
 _‘ he is ok now. Dont need to com ovr hes in bed now. sorry for disturbing you i just didnt no what to do’_  
He fetched a glass of water, checking his phone for the reply before he joined Gavin.  
‘ _It’s ok, I hadn’t quite left yet. Don’t feel bad about texting me, you can contact me whenever you or Gavin need to, ok? Give Gavin my best, goodnight. And Michael, I think you should come into work tomorrow. Just you. We all need to talk.’_  
  
   
  
 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> asdfghjkl I dunno where the bit about Michael being with Gavin that night came from D: IT WASN'T IN THE PLAN!! Clearly my mind was like 'hmmm, there just isnt enough angst in this story BETTER ADD MORE!'  
> [P.S. I know these last two chapters have been sort of lacking, but its getting SO CLOSE to the second arc of the story (yes there are arcs) so it will be picking up in content soon :D]


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